Please remember that this "allegedly" happened. Funny how some of the
people here already find her guilty as if they are the jury. I guess she's
guilty until proven innocent? I'm not saying it happened or didn't
happen. She's not a bad person until they prove she is bad.

1) A person commits object rape of a child when the person causes the
penetration or touching, however slight, of the genital or anal opening of a
child who is under the age of 14 by any foreign object, substance, instrument,
or device, not including a part of the human body, with intent to cause
substantial emotional or bodily pain to the child or with the intent to arouse
or gratify the sexual desire of any person.

(2) Object
rape of a child is a first degree felony punishable by a term of imprisonment
of:

(a) except as provided in Subsection (2)(b) not less
than 25 years and which may be for life; or

(b) life
without parole, if the trier of fact finds that:

(i)
during the course of the commission of the object rape of a child the defendant
caused serious bodily injury to another; or

(ii) at the
time of the commission of the object rape of a child the defendant was
previously convicted of a grievous sexual offense.

(3)
Imprisonment under this section is mandatory in accordance with Section
76-3-406.

This is such a unprofessional move by this teacher. I agree with DuckHunter in
regards to punishment based on gender. It is unfortunate that when a woman gets
in trouble with a young individual it seems almost "cute" to many in a
manner. There is a situation in town where a 20 year old girl who has graduated
is dating a 16 year old boy at the school. For some reason that seems justified
by some. Any individual who is messing around with younger school aged
individuals should be punished by the law. It isn't right to turn a blind
eye to a situation, whether it is an older woman or older man.

Age isn't the relevant factor in whether this allegation could be brought
up as charges. Even if the student had been 21 and was enrolled in the High
School where she worked (think Special Education) it would still be illegal. No
teacher/administrator/adult working at school should ever cross that
professional line. However the line continues to be broken.

I would
not be surprised if every single case reported of teacher misconduct had a
similar pattern where the educator gradually made small unprofessional choices
regarding student interactions before making the larger ones. These behaviors
should be easy to identify and used to decrease the abuse of some educators.

There have been enough women teachers/coaches/aides that have gone to court and
to prison for these type of actions, just in Utah. It is an issue of power and
trust, whether direct or not, just because they are a teacher, aide or coach no
matter which gender. I would picture that every new teacher during orientation
and even in their college studies as a student teacher would know the potential
consequences for non-compliance with this type of issue. Even students have
seen similar situations where their fellow students are trying to get a boost in
a grade through a special favor. 17 or 22 years of age isn't much
separation by age but it is the law and that is where this teacher appears to
gone over that boundary in her position.

It is sad but why was a
teacher inviting this girl over to her house in the first place without a group
of other teachers or students there as witnesses?

There is
definitely a lot of precedence on this type of occurrence.

A
complaint by a person, student or teacher, should probably have been filed as
actions at school were most likely occurring.

Does anyone have statistics on how frequently this happens in Utah vs.
nationally? It may be because I only read Utah newspapers, but this illegal
teacher/student thing seems to happen far too often in Utah. Offhand I can think
of the Lone Peak seminary teacher, the 62-yr-old Layton High choir teacher who
married an 18-yr-old student, the two female teachers in Bountiful with the one
14-year-old male student, the Kaysville teacher this past December, the
Roosevelt teacher, the Liahona teacher, the St. George high school teacher...the
list really could go on and on.

Utah is abstinence only. Health teachers can talk about basic male and female
anatomy and diseases, but we cannot discuss contraception at all. We are legally
bound. Teens usually find out sexual information from their peers, and
unfortunately that information is not always reliable. Parents think everything
that their teen needs to know is covered at school, but that is not true.
Parents need to talk with their teens instead of sweeping it under the rug or
assuming the sex topic will be covered at school. As far as the teacher is
concerned, she is in a position of trust. Proper ethics is drilled into us as we
prepare to become educators. She knows that what she was doing was
inappropriate. However, I do agree that our laws can be over the top, especially
when a 18 an year old gets put on the sex offenders list for having a sexual
relationship with their 17 year old BF or GF. Turning 18 does not make a student
suddenly mature in an instant. Regardless of what the law says, they are still
kids in that their brains and emotional capacities are still developing.

No one comments on the elephant in the room. Both the teacher and student are
the same gender, as I read the story. To me this is an issue of a person with
same gender attraction seeking a position of authority over minors, the
sophomore girl's basketball team, to identify and groom potential
partner/victims. It may be the teacher was recruited/exposed/seduced into this
behavior in the same way that she is/was trying to recruit/expose/seduce others
young women.

Double standard... As has been mentioned in previous posts, if the teacher had
been a man, he would have been hung out to dry. (and would have deserved it)
She is no different. Just as wrong. And making excuses doesn't make it any
less wrong.